Recently, the EPA issued more stringent ozone, or smog, regulations, reducing the allowable atmospheric ozone concentration to 75 parts per billion from its current level of 80 parts per billion. But according to James Taylor of the Heartland Institute, such a change will do little for improving air quality and much to increase costs: “There is no scientifically reliable evidence that current ozone levels are causing substantial health harms. Yet the federal government is proposing more stringent ozone standards that will likely cost the U.S. economy at least $10 billion per year. Particularly at a time when our economy is under the threat of a looming recession, this is an unwise and prohibitively costly step to address a nonexistent problem.”